Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Indeed, It is finally the final project of my education career. Looking back this 3 years went so fast that i still remember the first project when I hadnt have any experience in Maya software. I think the veterans of the 3rd year are getting old.
Thus, the last project begins. Since the middle of the 2nd year, I found what I want to do as my career, character designer and ultimately a character animator. Therefore this project will serve to improve these same skills.

Here is the initial proposal list for this project.
This proposal list explains the things I want to achieve and focus in this project and how I am attempting to do it.

What do I want to do ?

Character Design, Character Modelling, Character Sculpting, Character Animation.

What I do not want to do?

Detailed Storyboards, 3 Act Structure Narratives, Vast environments.

What is the focus ?

Character exploration, design, production and animation of maximum 2 characters. They will be modelled, rigged and animated according to a transcription of a speech, a monologue or music.

What will be the main learning skills?

Perfecting my character design skills , as well as modelling and texturing. Understand and learn fully the character production pipeline, emphasizing on character sculpting and animation. Time spent on the project will be concentrated on designing the character and having the character giving a performance.

What will be the outcome?

Ultimately, the main objective of this project will be, to have maximum 2 characters fully designed and transported into the world of 3D, who are able to give a funny performance and entertain the audience.

With this list presented, here is an example in order to visualise my idea.

Similarly the 11 Second Club, I am aiming to get a movie scene, speech, monologue or music, either audio or written, and interpret my own way. I want to focus on a 30 second fully animated performance giving by one or 2 characters. Unlikely this competition, my character will be fully designed and produced in 3D by me.

Monday, 23 January 2012

With the minor project basically wrapped up, I thought I would write evaluation of the time spent with my colleagues at Atom Pancakes and share any of the latest animation work.

The 15 to 18 week period spent with my 2 colleagues Jordan Buckner and Ethan Shilling, on our latest project was an amazing experience. It definitely taught me a lot of things about collaboration, work ethic and friendship. When we set up for this project we had a main goal, that in 15 weeks from that time we would have an animation, which the three of us would be happy with. Although in times, it wasn't as easy as it seems, we all learnt a valuable lesson, that in order to succeed in this industry, you have to work as a community, accepting and giving feedback, negotiating and compromising. Our task to create this animation was immense, as we from the beginning decided to create a story from scratch, however after a few weeks of not being sure, the group worked very well together to overcome this problem, always giving and receiving input. With the foundation of the project, laid out the rest was a very enjoyable trip, where me and my colleagues shared and worked well together, to design the world of 'The Final Chapter', from character to environment design, every single member's opinion was taken into account and used in favour of the project.
While at production, stage, everything ran smoothly, as we decided to distribute the tasks according to each individuals strengths. Animation was a very insightful task, as we had time to explore it we were able to further develop our skills.
In the end everything came together nicely, and despite a few last minutes hazard, the group was ejected with enough adrenaline to overcome them rapidly and successfully.

I would like to thank Jordan Buckner and Ethan Shilling, for the great experience, but also the tutors, Phil Gomm and Alan Postings, for allowing this group to form.

Surely, I used this experience to build by confidence when attempting to get a job after my degree.

After an emotional ending for a my evaluation, here is the promised latest work I have done in The Final Chapter.

Saturday, 21 January 2012

"The story follows our crime writer, Arthur Winters, as he attempts to write the ending of his book. As he thinks through possible ideas, things begin to go wrong around him. While having these ideas, Winters enters his dream space and starts to act like the suspects. When he finally realises an idea that works, he burst into motion to finish his book, however the simplest of the tasks is not so simple after all."

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Lately, I have been spending time and more time animating and tweaking any animation previously done. It has been a very enjoyable journey with a lot learnt. With only one more scene to tweak. What follows is an animation "dump" of all the scenes I have been working on.

Animation Finished Scene

Animation Finished Scene- Cameras

Animation Prepare Scene- Cameras

Montage Scene

One of the things I have been working was the dynamics for some of the scenes, here is a bubble test done and which will be added on the glass in one of the scenes.

About Me

Ruben Martins is a freelance character artist from Portugal, who graduated from CG Arts and Animation Course at UCA Rochester, UK.
Ruben grew up watching animations by Disney and at his heart he stayed that child appreciating the skill of making drawings come alive. In his projects, he is passionate about designing and giving life and personality to characters. Ruben is an enthusiastic individual with great attention to detail, who seeks adventures and challenges. In his spare time he likes to travel and explore different cultures and cuisines.